Tim L Making A Statement (or two)

[Tim L.]

Worked on gluing up the second cabinet today. Unfortunately, tropical storm Hermine has made it difficult. With the rainy weather, it is much cooler today and very muggy, so the glue is taking much longer to set. So far, no major problems with the cabinet woodwork. Just need to get r done.

My crossover parts from Erse will arrive tomorrow that they had in stock. The caps I ordered from PE should be here in the next few days. I should be able to wire the crossovers next week along with wiring the speaker cabinets. Can anyone suggest some good quality copper wire that comes with different colored insulation? Preferably from Home Depot or Lowes that would be good for the internal wiring? Any other suggestions? Thanks.

[john trials]

I just use speaker wire inside my speakers. Lowes has speaker wire (at least they do here in CT).

[impala454]

Looking good Tim... I can speak for the awesomeness of the Emotiva amp & Statements combo! If you care to learn from any of my mistakes check out my build thread: https://www.htguide.com/forum/showth...ight=chuck%27s

[Tim L.]

Looking good Tim... I can speak for the awesomeness of the Emotiva amp & Statements combo! If you care to learn from any of my mistakes check out my build thread: https://www.htguide.com/forum/showth...ight=chuck%27s

Thanks, Chuck.

Those monitors/cc really look great. So far, I have not had any real problems with the cabinet work. I made sure to err on the slightly too big side and not the too small. I had to shave a little wood here and there and that has been about it. What scares the bejezus out of me is wiring and soldering up the crossovers. It has been decades since I held a soldering iron. 8O

[Tim L.]

Well, I ended up going out of town for a few days on my vacation, so I have not done as much work as I had anticipated. Yesterday, I rough sanded the cabinets and today I put in the terminals and lined the speakers with fiberglass. Tomorrow, I hope to cut out the openings in the baffles and begin work on the crossovers.

Here is a picture of where I left off yesterday.



I will post more pictures tomorrow.

[Tim L.]

Hey all.

Well, after working a long stretch with little time off, I finally had a chance to get back to work on the Statements. Today, I cut the holes out of the baffles for the speakers. All went well, with the Jasper jig and my new Bosch router combo performing flawlessly. The mids and woofers fit perfectly, with the tweeters having just a very small gap. This was because the tweeters are 1/32" less than the jig's smallest hole size cut option that would accommodate the driver.

Tomorrow, I will make the 45 degree angle cuts on the rear of the speaker openings, and wire the cabinets.

I have a question about the order of finishing. I am painting the baffles, bases and rears semigloss or flat black, and I am planning to apply wood veneer to the sides. I am planning to finish the speakers in the following order:

1. wire the cabinets
2. build the crossovers on one piece of pegboard for each speaker
3. dry fit the baffles, and wire up the drivers and test them
4. disconnect the drivers, then glue on the baffles
5. finish sand the cabinets
5. prime/seal and paint the baffles, bases and rears
6. apply the veneer
7. apply stain and polyurethane or some other semi gloss finish
8. mount the bases
9. apply the speaker opening seals and mount the drivers
10. Hook em up and enjoy

Am I missing anything here?

[BeerParty]

I did not see the step for putting in the foam.

[Tim L.]

I did not see the step for putting in the foam.

Chris, I used fiberglass. It is already in the cabinets. As for the tunnels, I am going to do as others have done and give a good listen before lining them.

[BeerParty]

Chris, I used fiberglass. It is already in the cabinets. As for the tunnels, I am going to do as others have done and give a good listen before lining them.

Well, that would explain why the step was missing.

Just remember, we demand :roll: proof of progress with pictures...

[bigbardmusiq]

Hi Tim,

The 1.1 will be fine for the mid tunnels. If you've ordered the 1.6 lb. density, it'll work too just hold it back further from the drivers.

Jim

Can someone post a link from PE that would give an idea of how this stuff looks?

[john trials]

Can someone post a link from PE that would give an idea of how this stuff looks?

Jim got his from foambymail.com. I'm not sure if PE sells basic 1" thick open cell foam. I got mine from JoAnn fabric, a local fabric store. It's just 1" thick seat cushion foam. You don't need anything fancy. Just make sure it's OPEN cell foam (you can blow through it).

[Tim L.]

Well, that would explain why the step was missing.

Just remember, we demand :roll: proof of progress with pictures...

Sorry I have not been Johnny on the spot with with photos, but here are a few:

Baffles front and back:



Running the wiring:



Yum Yum guarding my router.



Today, I will start to work on the crossovers. I will post pix of the crossovers after I lay them out.

[Tim L.]

Sorry I have not been around lately. I have not had time to work on my speaker project due to other obligations, but I am ready to get going again. I am at what I consider the most daunting task, and that is putting together and soldering the crossovers.

I am working on a Photoshop graphic of my crossover layout and wiring diagram. After I have finished it, I will post the images. Hopefully, some of you good folks will take a look at them and let me know if I have made any errors, as I have little experience in wiring and soldering.

What is the easiest way to join the stiff wires of caps, resistors and inductors together before soldering? Twisting the wires, or looping the ends together? Is it better to hot glue the parts to the hardboard, or simply tie them down with nylon wire ties? I would really appreciate any tips about putting these boards and parts together, or if possible, refer me to a tutorial, etc. Thanks.

[PassingInterest]

Hi Tim. The build is looking good. I have the same Bosch router and am very happy with it, by the way.

My 2 Year Renewable ISO 9000 Soldering Certification expired over a year ago. I let it lapse, because I retired. But, I still know how to solder.

About soldering the crossover components--

Twist the leads together. Where the leads won't reach their destination, twist a wire onto the lead. The idea is to get a sound mechanical connection before flowing any solder onto the joint.

Here's another tip for soldering--lay the end of the solder across the joint and touch your tip to the solder, then brush the solder across the joint twice and get off the joint. You can damage some components by leaving the heat on for too long.

Securing the components to the board--There's nothing wrong with using both the Ty Wraps and Hot Melt Glue to secure them. Air Coils--Use both. Iron Core Coils--Nuts and Bolts. Use either Lock Washers against the nuts, or two nuts against each other, so the bolt won't vibrate loose.

Hope this helps.

[GPHammer]

Welcome back Tim, I started my Statements shortly after you did, your thread was very helpful for my build.
I copied Soundemons crossovers, very simple and easy to do for a first timer, I used two six inch by eight inch pieces of perforated board in each speaker, one for the mid network and one for the woofers and tweeter network, they fit nicely in the bottom of the cabinet. Hope this helps.

You are in for a treat when you do listen to them, the separation of sounds are incredible, the bass is incredible , you hear every note.

[Tim L.]

Finally back to work on my Statements

Hey all. I'm back. Just have not found enough time to get my Statements finished. Now I'm on vacation however, so I have finished my crossover layout. I drew it up to scale using Adobe Illustrator. Board size is 9.25" x 9" and should fit attached to the baffle below the bottom woofer and the lowest brace. I believe I have drawn it up right, and this I hope will work, but could you good people be so kind as to give the attached image a look and tell me if I am good to go or not? Thanks.

[BeerParty]

Board size is 9.25" x 9" and should fit attached to the baffle below the bottom woofer and the lowest brace.

Most people design the crossover to be on two boards so they can make it narrow enough to fit through the woofer cutout. Then you can install (and remove) the crossovers after the cabinet is built if necessary.

Not necessary, buy I figured I should mention it.

[Tim L.]

Most people design the crossover to be on two boards so they can make it narrow enough to fit through the woofer cutout. Then you can install (and remove) the crossovers after the cabinet is built if necessary.

Not necessary, buy I figured I should mention it.

Hi, Chris. Thanks for the reply. That is good advice. Especially since my biggest fear is fouling up on the crossovers. I can cut the board in two and place the woofer net 1 on a smaller piece so they will fit through the woofer cutout.

Is the wiring correct as I have it laid out? That is my main worry.

[BeerParty]

Hi, Chris. Thanks for the reply. That is good advice. Especially since my biggest fear is fouling up on the crossovers. I can cut the board in two and place the woofer net 1 on a smaller piece so they will fit through the woofer cutout.

I would suggest putting the woofer and the tweeter networks on the same board and the mid on it's own board, since the mid has the most pieces. You should be able to get both boards down to ~5x9.

I'll try and check the diagram against the posted crossover later this evening.

[fordmaker]

Tim, check the crossover wiring at your mids. It looks like the orange solder joint / node between R2051 and R2061 is connected to the negative side of the mids which is correct, but is also connected to the negative signal wire or signal ground.

That negative signal wire should land on the black solder joint / node between R2061 and C2041 on the plus side of the mids instead. It's late, so forgive me if I'm looking at it wrong! I think the (BP-) wire at the terminal block is the only problem.

Matt

[Tim L.]

Whoops!

Tim, check the crossover wiring at your mids. It looks like the orange solder joint / node between R2051 and R2061 is connected to the negative side of the mids which is correct, but is also connected to the negative signal wire or signal ground.

That negative signal wire should land on the black solder joint / node between R2061 and C2041 on the plus side of the mids instead. It's late, so forgive me if I'm looking at it wrong! I think the (BP-) wire at the terminal block is the only problem.

Matt

Thanks Matt. I really appreciate your help. I have revised the diagram. This should be right now I believe. Always good to have more than one set of eyes to look at something like this when I have no experience with assembling crossovers. :T

I am also going to do as Chris advised and place the woofer and tweeter nets on the same piece and the mids on one by themselves.

[Tim L.]

Proximity of Caps and Resistors?

Can anyone tell me if it is okay to place the caps directly touching the sides of the ceramic resistors, or should they be spaced some? These resistors take up a lot of space unfortunately. Will the resistors generate enough heat to damage the caps if they touch?

[john trials]

Can anyone tell me if it is okay to place the caps directly touching the sides of the ceramic resistors, or should they be spaced some? These resistors take up a lot of space unfortunately. Will the resistors generate enough heat to damage the caps if they touch?

I recommend giving each resistor room to dissipate heat. The arrangement you have looks good...just leave 1/2" or more of clearance around each resistor.

I'd also recommend making the crossover on one board. This will reduce the number of interconnects, which will simplify things (I've worked in manufacturing/design of electronic equipment...the less interconnects, the better). I agree with Chris' recommendation of separate crossover boards for Statement Monitors or CC, just due to the size of the enclosure.

[Drew_V]

I fit the entire crossover network for the Mini Statements on one board. There are actually more components in the Minis than the full-size Statements, so you should have no trouble getting them onto a single board.

My component layout can be seen in this post:

https://www.htguide.com/forum/showpost.php?p=525083&postcount=42

You should have no trouble modifying it slightly to suit the Statement crossover design. The board size is 5x10 and will fit through the woofer opening. Good luck.

[Keebz]

Nice looking layout! I think I'll use it when i start my build Thanks

[BOBinGA]

From a couple of other threads, it looks like R2051 in the mid L-Pad is the resistor that is likely to get hot. Use a 25 watt or two 6 ohm resistors in parallel for it and give it some space. It would also be good to raise this one up off the board to allow for heat dissipation on all six sides. And keep any foam or polyfill stuffing away from the XO boards to let them breathe.

-Bob

[Tim L.]

Thanks all. I finished both speaker crossovers today, with the exception of soldering the joints, which I will do first thing in the morning. I like the way they turned out, and I think everything is spaced well enough that heat should not be an issue,at least I hope so. No fiberglass should come into contact with them either. I took your advice, John, and decided to go without the terminal blocks, and I will solder wiring directly to the device leads to cut down on connects. I will post pictures first thing in the morning or later this evening. My camera battery was dead.

I ended up using two boards for each speaker. One for the mids, and one for the tweeters and woofers. The single board I had cut would not fit through the woofer holes, so I basically just split the original boards into two pieces. Therefore my finished layout looks just like the layout in my revised illustration, minus the terminal blocks of course.

My Emotiva XPA-2 arrives tomorrow as well. Man I can't wait to hear the Statements with that amp. 8)

[Tim L.]

Okay, I finally have my crossovers complete. They took a lot longer to do than I thought, but I guess having no recent experience with soldering and working with these types of parts, its understandable. In order to have good spacing between the resistors and the caps, I had to deviate somewhat from my original layout to accommodate those giant resistors. Here is a picture of one of the finished crossovers.



Now, to finally test to see if these babies will play.

[Tim L.]

Question about where to mount crossovers inside cabs

To Jim, John or anyone familiar with the Statements, would it be okay to mount my two crossover boards, one to the top of the upper mid-tunnel just under the upper woofer, and the other on the bottom surface of the lower mid-tunnel, and toward the back panel? Mounting them to the baffle down near the bottom under the open brace seems to be inaccessible if something were to go wrong and I would need to get at them. This way, I can see them and get at them easy through the woofer holes.

[Tim L.]

YESSS! They Actually Work.

WOO HOO! They work. All drivers play with clarity. What a relief. I plan on having them completed with the exception of the veneer by Sunday. I have been so busy working on the Statements that I have not even had the chance to get my new Emotiva XPA-2 out of the box yet.

[Jim Holtz]

To Jim, John or anyone familiar with the Statements, would it be okay to mount my two crossover boards, one to the top of the upper mid-tunnel just under the upper woofer, and the other on the bottom surface of the lower mid-tunnel, and toward the back panel? Mounting them to the baffle down near the bottom under the open brace seems to be inaccessible if something were to go wrong and I would need to get at them. This way, I can see them and get at them easy through the woofer holes.

Sure, that would be fine.

Jim

[Tim L.]

Sure, that would be fine.

Jim

Thanks Jim. I'm almost there finally.

[Tim L.]

Well, after a long day of work on the Statements, everything is done except rounding over the baffles, mounting the drivers, designing and attaching the base, and hooking them up and listening to them. I will paint the baffle and apply the veneer hopefully a week from today.

I made a couple of last minute changes, including replacing the fiberglass with the 2" foam, and going with a rear firing port instead of the downward firing one. The fiberglass was fine, but it was just not aesthetically pleasing enough. I know I won't see it, but I just wanted cleaner, more tidy cabinets. I will post pictures tomorrow.

[Tim L.]

After another long day of working on the Statements, I finally finished them to the point of being able to set them up and see how they sounded. Here is a picture of my progress, with listening impressions to follow:



As you can see in the picture, I still have not unpacked my new Emotiva XPA-2 amp. I was just too darn tired, so I hooked them up to my Emotiva XPA-3 amp / USP-1 preamp / ERC-1 CD player system. For those not aware, here is the specs of the XPA-3 amp: 200 watts RMS x 3 into 8 ohms | 300 watts RMS x 3 into 4 ohms. I switched out my old Klipsch KG-5.5 floor standing speakers with the Statements.

The first CD I played was Dead Can Dance's "Toward the Within" which is a live recording. My very first thought was, "this is not a live recording, I am there in the audience." My old Klipsch speakers were very good quality, and still to this day sound fine, even though I bought them new back in 1994. They would compete with speakers today anywhere from $1500 to $3000 per pair. I can state unequivocally that the Statements completely blow the Klipsch away.

These speakers have a big, full sound, that is completely unboxy and neutral. There is no harshness in the highs, the mids are superb as many others have stated, but they also shine in the low end with smooth deep bass that packs punch without the boominess.

A while back just before I decided to go the DIY route, I auditioned speakers from Paradigm, Magnepan, Martin Logan, Klipsch, B&W, Dynaudio, PSB, Definitive Technology, Vienna Acoustics, and a few others that ranged in price up to $5000. Many of them I was very impressed with, but these Statements sound better than every pair I auditioned back then. Now there are speakers that will rival or beat these Statements, but I did not bother to listen to them because I could never afford them. The only speakers I have heard that I would say outperform these would be an $11k pair of Quads I heard a while back, but even they did not have the rich, deep bass that I am now hearing, although the mids and highs were simply stunning.

I chose to go with DIY to take the chance that I could get true audiophile quality sound on a budget I could afford. I succeeded beyond my expectations. I want to give special thanks to Jim Holtz, Curt C. and co. for giving me the opportunity to own speakers I can love and be pround of for many years to come. I also want to give thanks to John Trials, Sefferdog, BeerParty and all the others that contributed to my build thread with their help. I should also credit Emotiva, as there is just no audio equipment available that beat them at two or three times the price if not more. As soon as I can, I will build the Statements CC to complete my 5.1 home theater. I will also post pictures after I put the final finish on.

Now, I just need to unpack that XPA-2 and really crank these babies...

[Jim Holtz]

Hi Tim,

Glad you like the Statements. I do too! :T

Here's the good news, they'll sound even better after about 20 hours of play time. Seriously....

Jim

[Tim L.]

Hi Tim,

Glad you like the Statements. I do too! :T

Here's the good news, they'll sound even better after about 20 hours of play time. Seriously....

Jim

They sound any better, I might be moved to tears of joy.

[AdelaaR]

Thanks for that review and congratz on your statements Tim!

Will they remain MDF or are you going to give them some finishing?

[Tim L.]

Thanks for that review and congratz on your statements Tim!

Will they remain MDF or are you going to give them some finishing?

I still need to add the plinth. I have not yet decided on a design. Also, I will paint the baffle satin black with the rest being veneered with golden oak or honey oak. That will match my Digital Phase speakers that I will be using for rear channels.

[Drew_V]

Looking good! It's results like this that keep me motivated to build my own set of Statements (minis). Hearing the phrase "They sound better than $5000 commercial speakers" never gets old. A testament to Curt/Jim's design prowess.

By the way, what radius are those roundovers? They look awfully small, less than 3/4" (full roundover).

[Tim L.]

Looking good! It's results like this that keep me motivated to build my own set of Statements (minis). Hearing the phrase "They sound better than $5000 commercial speakers" never gets old. A testament to Curt/Jim's design prowess.

By the way, what radius are those roundovers? They look awfully small, less than 3/4" (full roundover).

Yes, the roundovers are 1/2". I thought I had purchased a 3/4" roundover bit, but when it came time to do the baffle edges, I could not find it. I used a 1/2" bit as a stopgap measure until I can get a new one or find the missing one, as I do want the speaker cabinets to specs.

[Tim L.]

From time to time, I thought I may never reach this point, but I did and I am very pleased with the results. I thought my paint job looked very good. I used several coats of Krylon spray primer, followed by around six or seven coats of Krylon satin black from the rattle cans. I followed that with several more coats of Krylon flat clear acrylic. I pretty much got just the look on the black paint I wanted.

Although not perfect, and I made a few mistakes I wish I hadn't of, I feel I did pretty doggone good for a first time speaker build. As hard a job as it was, I would do it again in a heartbeat. They sound awesome. Here are a couple of pictures of the finished pair of Statements.

[Jim Holtz]

Great job Tim! :T

Jim

[BigJim_inFLA]

Very nice work! I like the silver tweets.

Jim

[john trials]

Those look really nice!!!!